January/February 2012

Energy efficiency

Keeping in pace with industry needs

Interview with Mr Renny Yeo, the new Singapore NC (National Committee) President, on ideas and plans for making IEC Standards more relevant to the Singapore industry.

Yeo needs little introduction to the manufacturing community of Singapore as for more than 20 years he has been involved in SMa, the Singapore Manufacturers’ Federation. He was a Chairman and subsequently Senior Advisor of the Electrical & Electronics Allied Industries Group, before becoming the President of SMa from 2009 – 2011. Yeo is an entrepreneur and CEO of various companies including Singapore Cables Manufacturer Pte Ltd and Datacom Pte Ltd. This wealth of experience and expertise is extremely useful in his position as the President of the Singapore NC of the IEC with effect from April 2011.

Systems standards needed

Right from the start of the interview Yeo underlined the need to include aspects of energy efficiency in IEC products standards and systems standards. “We need these standards to build a green environment. If such standards are not available, everybody will develop their own standards, which will result in a proliferation of industry and national standards”, added Yeo.

He highlighted that the Singapore Green Building Council, of which he is a Board Member, has spelt out the need for standards that incorporate energy efficiency, production processes and waste management requirements to be used on green buildings. For example, having a system standard for all electrotechnical devices in this environment would be useful.

Existing standards difficult to identify

Not only that, Yeo said: “IEC Standards often comprise elements that are useful to achieve increased energy efficiency but they are too difficult to find. There is a real need for them to be better indexed or better still to have a separate section in the standard so that it is easier to find. It is important to make the standards as user-friendly as possible so that people can derive the maximum benefits from them”.

Educating future business leaders

Yeo has some ideas for what he wants to accomplish for the IEC in Singapore. He strongly feels that there is a need to establish academic programmes to educate future business leaders, possibly jointly with other countries. He would also like to increase the information exchange in the region. Last but not least he feels that more companies need to be made aware about the impact of standards on business and the bottom line…how much it costs a company, when it doesn’t actively participate in standardization and therefore is adversely affected by new standards or the changes in existing standards.

Renny Yeo

Renny Yeo has nearly 40 years of working experience in the field of shipbuilding/ship repairing, electrical engineering and cable industries. Yeo holds a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Southampton College of Technology, UK and a Masters in Management from the Asian Institute of Management, Philippines.

Currently, Yeo serves as the President of the Singapore National Committee of the IEC. He is the Chairman of the Singapore Accreditation Council, a Member of the Singapore Standards Council and a Board member of the Singapore Green Building Council. Yeo is also currently the Honorary President of the Singapore Manufacturers’ Federation.

Renny Yeo, President of the Singapore NC

There is an increasing need for standards that incorporate energy efficiency (Photo: The Lucida)

Putting in place a system standard for all electrotechnical devices would also be very useful